Sunday, March 16, 2008

How to Setup an environment for MOSS

Whenever somebody needs to get their hands dirty in a new technology, the first thing they need is to create a conducive atmosphere to play in. In technical terms, it is called setting up the ‘environment’. Just like any other technology, it is required to set up the environment for MOSS as well. MOSS 2007 is a powerful toolbox that contains useful tools to conjure up document management and collaboration web sites in less time and less effort.

Is there anybody out there who wants to have a bite of this juicy apple? Anybody who wants to enter and disappear into the enchantment of this marvelous technology. The beginners or newbies to MOSS might first feel a bit intimidated by the apparent complexity and enormity of the application. But be assured that there is no such need to feel afraid. I will guide you from the very basics to the most complex levels. So let’s begin!

MOSS is a server technology, therefore, to run it requires a sever environment. MOSS server runs on Windows Server and the MOSS suite comprises of all the following ingredients.

Now wait a minute! Windows Server 2003! But we are usually using the Windows XP platform for doing most of our work. Where to get this Windows 2003 Server? And what about the rest of the long frightening list! Where in the world can these be found!

Seems like a tough job, collecting all of these components, isn’t it? Well no need to fear long lists or big words. All of this is just a piece of cake. Getting the components and using these to set up the environment for MOSS is pretty simple. In later posts you will also see that not only the acquisition of MOSS components and setting up the environment is easy, using these to create useful applications is equally painless. All one needs is to stay focused and committed with the task at hand.

Now to start shooing off your fears let me start with the operating system. Yes, Windows 2003 Server is required to run MOSS, and you might probably be running Windows XP. But not having Windows 2003 Server is not an obstacle. There is a work around. Instead of the actual server operating system, you can use a virtual one.

This can be achieved by downloading and installing the Windows Virtual Server. What you need to do first is click on the following link to download the virtual server:

When the download is complete, run the setup to install this application by following the instructions on the screen. When the installation is completed, a link to a web site will be created in the start menu in Programs. After installation and making the server ready to run SharePoint 2007, you just need to specify paths for MOSS pre-configured Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) and Virtual Hard Disk Configuration (VHC) file.

The question now is that where to get these files from? Again have no fear! Just click on the following 6 links one by one to download the contents.

Make sure all the downloaded files are placed in one folder. The first link will download an exe file and the rest will download rar files. When all the files are downloaded, run the exe file. This will extract the rest of the files. When this is complete you will get a MOSS pre-configured VHD, a VHC, some read me files and some other useful stuff.

Now that all ingredients have been collected, how to combine those to start making things work? Well now just one small step left. You need to go to ADD VIRTUAL MACHINE in your virtual server and specify the path for the newly acquired VHD and VHC files.

Done with that, your virtual server will be "all set" to run Share Point Server 2007. Take a look at he screen shot.

So you have witnessed it yourself that there was nothing to it. You got the components and set up the environment for MOSS all by yourself. Good job!